At the present time, the public is confronted with two basic problems related to the consumption of fuel in an internal combustion engine. One of these problems is the pollution of the ambient atmosphere by the products of combustion. These noxious products are oxides of nitrogen (NO.sub.x), carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC). Of late, considerable attention has been devoted in attempt to minimize if not completely obviate these noxious products of combustion.
The other problem deals with the conservation of fuel. The country is now faced with an energy shortage and much effort has been directed to the broad object of regenerating fuel from the heat of the engine, with the regenerated fuel being passed back to the engine for consumption therein.
It is now a well recognized phenomenum that when hydrogen is used as a fuel in an internal combustion engine the noxious products of combustion which pollute the atmosphere are reduced to a high degree if not completely eliminated. This has been found to be true not only when the hydrogen is the only fuel used, but also when the hydrogen is combined with conventional hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline, diesel oil and the like.
The decomposition of water into its components of oxygen and hydrogen by passing an electric current therethrough is also a now well recognized phenomenum. Other methods of decomposing water to provide oxygen have also been proposed. One of these is to pass water or steam into contact with heated ferrous balls. Moreover, it has been proposed to use hydrogen so generated as a fuel in internal combustion engines. However, from the apparent lack of public acceptance of such technology, it is believed that this failure is due to the highly inefficient nature of such processes.
In the above identified applications and patent the oxygen from an electrolysis cell is either exhausted to ambient atmosphere or combined with air at the air intake of the engine. This is not the most efficient use of the oxygen which is possible. Also, there is some loss of heat in the working fluid circulatory system after the gases pass through the turbine and before these gases are delivered to a condenser.
The present invention is founded on the basic concept of utilizing heat derived from an internal combustion engine to generate electric power which decomposes water to provide hydrogen which is used in the engine. Thus, air pollution is reduced or avoided to a large extent and energy is conserved.